Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.
Author Unknown

Friday, April 27, 2007

Birth Story (Pictures of the Prince are below)

To fill in a little more detail....

Yesterday was an eventful day to say the least. I decided about noon that my contractions were probably worth timing. After a few hours, though, I discovered that when I went to do something around the house, they spaced way back out -- typical Braxton-Hicks. I did NOT want to go into the hospital until I was actually in labor, so I refused to go in for those fake things. The same pattern continued throughout the evening. If a contraction seemed a bit over the edge, I just breathed through it and continued on. Stephen went to taekwondo class, and I stayed home with Katy. By the time he got back, things were just the same. We had some Rice Krispie Treats that Katy "cooked" with Stephen. Mmmm mmmmm good. Around bedtime, I decided I had better take a shower just in case we needed to go in during the night. Stephen put stuff by the door, but my one desire was to sleep a few hours to get rested up for labor. HA! As soon as I was in bed, I had to get right back up and....ummm....."pray to the porcelain god," as some people say. (Let's just say I won't be eating tuna for a long, long time.) After that was done, I decided that we had best go in. Stephen had already called his mom to come be with Katy while I was indisposed, so we were just waiting for her to get to the house so we could take off. I took my trash can with us, just in case. Good plan.

We zipped off to the hospital. Stephen called Shawn to get ready to come in. We got to the ER, checked in, and got wheeled to Labor & Delivery. My first inclination that I had waited too long to come in was having three contractions between the bed and the bathroom to get changed into my gown. A scary thought zinged through my head: "I don't think I'll have time to get an epidural!!" How true that was. The nurse checked me, and I came in completely dilated and ready to push, except for the fact that the doctor wasn't there yet and my water wasn't broken. I was told not to push (which I had absolutely no intention of doing) till he arrived. When he did, a few contractions, a little pushing, and there he was! Our beautiful baby boy. He's amazing.

As an aside, the nurse said, "You might not want to wait so long to come in next time." Duh. :)

7 comments:

What is up with all of us going in too late for epidurals? Praise God for the strength He gives at just the right time! I certainly don't plan on waiting the next time though, once is definitely enough! Congrats again!

Join the club of having to do #2 with no epidural!!! Wasn't it such a different experience? You will feel so much better so much faster. I loved that part of it!! Wish I could come with Bobby, but it's too much right now. I'll talk to you soon.